Month: October 2008

Topic Brief: Six Days to Go: A Countdown to the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

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On October 29, 2008

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

Background

There is no doubt that any extemper worth their mettle will be watching the election returns on November 4th and already begin thinking of the many questions they will receive about the next presidential administration, the fallout from the election, the legacy of George W. Bush that was reflected in the election, and why the candidate who ends up losing ended up doing so.  This is also the very last week for competitors to receive questions they have been receiving since the 2004 election ended which asked “Who will win the 2008 presidential election?”  That question will be resolved, barring another Florida/Ohio scenario, on Tuesday evening.

Due to the fact that this is the last week extempers could receive a question on the 2008 presidential candidates, I felt that it was timely to write this brief.  In two weeks I will break down the 2008 presidential election results (as well as Congressional results) and offer some additional analysis for extempers to ponder.

This brief will focus primarily on the presidential contest between Illinois Senator Barack Obama and Arizona Senator John McCain, but will focus briefly at the end about the odds of the Democrats achieving a filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate.

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Extemp Questions for the Week of October 28th-November 3rd, 2008

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On October 28, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Has Pennsylvania become the most pivotal battleground state in the presidential election?

2. Why was Livni unable to form a government?

3. Would Congress be more bipartisan with substantial Democratic majorities?

4. Who should Zambia choose as its next president?

5. Why is it so hard to reform the Mexican oil industry?

6. Are Amnesty International’s criticisms of Colombia’s security forces justified?

7. Should Iran pre-emptively strike Israel?

8. Why does the EU not like Italy’s immigration laws?

9. To the U.S.: Should Sudan matter?

10. Why do some Afghans prefer Taliban rule?

Extemp Questions for the Week of October 21st-27th, 2008

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On October 21, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Why is Obama’s lead in the polls shrinking?

2. Will California voters pass Proposition 8?

3. Would a new stimulus package help the U.S. economy?

4. Has the oil bubble burst?

5. What does the Powell endorsement mean for Obama?

6. How long will Harper’s minority government last?

7. Will Zimbabwe’s new political crisis achieve a quick resolution?

8. Why are Central Asian countries facing food shortages?

9. How would a Democratic controlled, filibuster-proof Senate mean change the United States?

10. Why has Sarkozy become a key figure on the global economic crisis?

Topic Brief: 2008 Canadian Elections

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On October 21, 2008

In International Extemp, Topic Brief

Background

With most extempers worried about how the U.S. elections are going to turn out , many might have missed the news about the Canadian elections that happened last Tuesday.  The Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party, called the elections in the hopes that he could lead his party to a majority of seats in the Canadian parliament.  The Conservative Party had ruled the country for the last 32 months, but had done so from minority status, which makes it difficult to survive votes of no confidence and pass budget and other procedural matters.

Building majority governments has grown difficult in Canada where a parliamentary system that does not use proportional representation has grown skewed because the country has seen a political shift from a two party structure to a five party structure.  Harper’s Conservative Party is part of this political shift, created in 2003 in a merger between the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.

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Extemp Question Central National Points Race (September)

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On October 15, 2008

In National Points Race

buzzby Logan Scisco

In our last issue, we broke down the structure of this year’s Extemp Question Central National Points Race.  Points are awarded to competitors based on their performance in three tiers of tournaments.  The first tier is composed of the two major national tournaments, CFL and NFL Nationals, the second tier is composed of skill level national tournaments where extempers must qualify, such as the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin and the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions, and the third tier is composed of ten pre-selected national circuit tournaments.  At the end of the season, the individual extemper who accumulates the most points will be named the 2009 Extemp Question Central National Points Race Champion and will receive a trophy paid for by Extemp Question Central to commemorate their accomplishment.  There is also a team rankings component built into the system, where teams can accumulate points based on how their extempers place in the final rounds of the three tiers of tournaments discussed above.

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Topic Brief: Syria and Iran as Agents of Change in the Middle East

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On October 15, 2008

In International Extemp, Topic Brief

topicbriefBy Omar Qureshi

The Middle East has long been an area of major misunderstanding for the west. Whether it is the volatile nature of popular will in Iran or the legacy politics in Syria there doesn’t seem to be a clear, general regional trend. The challenge of this understanding has led to many different foreign policy approaches towards the region as a whole. Regardless of whether it has been Clinton’s “aesthetic peace policy” or the much more expansive “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive war, these policies are specifically developed for the Middle East. Moreover, these policies have embraced the 1975 idea of Pax Syriana. This term literally means “Syrian peace,” but international relations theorists have taken it to mean the attempted reshaping of the Middle East to the desires of major actors. Clinton wanted peace- or at least the appearance of peace and George W. Bush wants to develop strategic alliances backed by hard power- a move that has substantially disenfranchised the Middle East on the whole. The preeminent actors in the Middle East today are Syria and Iran.

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Topic Brief: South African Politics

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On October 15, 2008

In International Extemp, Topic Brief

topicbriefBy Logan Scisco

Background

Over the last several weeks, international extempers have most likely read about the recent political developments in South Africa, arguably the strongest power on the African continent.  For those extempers that have not had a chance to catch up on these developments, Thabo Mbeki is no longer president of the country.  After a prolonged political struggle between Jacob Zuma, who was Mr. Mbeki’s deputy president (a position most akin to vice-president in the United States) and who deposed Mr. Mbeki as leader of the African National Congress (ANC) in December, it appears that Mr. Zuma has won.  This victory came within the span of a month when Mr. Zuma was first acquitted of fraud and corruption charges based on a judicial technicality.  The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the body of the South African judiciary who initiates criminal cases for the government, was said in the dismissal of the charges to have been influenced in its prosecution by Mr. Mbeki and his supporters.  This finding by the judge overseeing Mr. Zuma’s case gave weight to charges, long echoed by Mr. Zuma’s supporters, that Mr. Mbeki has been an overzealous president who has been intolerant of political opposition and that Mr. Mbeki has been willing to use the instruments of the state to clamp down on this dissent.  On September 20th, the ANC decided that Mr. Mbeki should resign his post in order to end the political struggle that has gripped the country for three years.

Having set the background, this brief will give an overview of the structure and history of South Africa’s political system, the current state of the government, and what challenges that government faces in the future.

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Extempers Corner: Akshar Rambachan

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On October 15, 2008

In Interviews

buzzInterview by Logan Scisco

Competing for Eastview High School in Apple Valley, Minnesota for Todd Hering, Akshar Rambachan achieved a high level of success in the 2007-2008 extemporaneous speaking season.  By the end of the season, Akshar had won the Minnesota Class 2A extemporaneous speaking state championship and then became only the second extemporaneous speaker ever to win the CFL and NFL national extemporaneous speaking championships in the same year.  He also won the Mehta Bowl, awarded to the final round national champion in International Extemporaneous Speaking.  Akshar also holds the unique distinction of forming the only brother-sister combination to win an NFL extemporaneous speaking national championship, as his sister, Ishanaa Rambachan, won the 2004 NFL International Extemporaneous Speaking national championship (as well as the final round national championship) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Impacting – It’s THAT Important

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On October 15, 2008

In Strategy

strategyby Sebastian Pyrek

The typical extemper probably has multiple areas in which he/she needs to improve in to reach ultimate perfection, be it delivery, knowledge base, or anything out of the myriad of qualities that makes the ‘good’ extemper good. One thing that is arguably the most important is analysis, because we are answering a question, and our ranks depend directly on this answer. Also, after a season, having only 7 minutes to speak is a curse – it is difficult to gather a focus and be deliberate in what we want to say. This is where impacting can come in and save the common extemper and add a whole new dimension of organization to a speech.

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St. Marks – From Sleep to Prep (All in a Day’s Work)

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On October 15, 2008

In Tournaments

buzzBy Sarah Anand[1]

The St. Marks tournament in Dallas, Texas was unlike a lot of national tournaments I have been to.  For starters, it was in the hotel I was staying at, making it truly a bizarre and great experience to take the elevator down to the prep room in the main lobby. But for reasons that did not have to do with the surroundings, St. Marks is also unique because it allows the competitor (if he or she wishes) to double enter in ISX and USX. By the end of the second day, a person who makes it to finals in both fields would have had the opportunity to speak twelve times (six preliminary rounds, six out rounds). With more rounds competed in one day than any day at Nationals, an extemper might be thinking, “How exactly do I keep my sanity and still give a great speech by the end of the day?” For me, preparation for this tournament was not too different than what I normally would do. However, because it was towards the beginning of the season, I did have to make sure my focus was as consistent as it could be.

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Topic Brief: Somalia (2008)

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On October 15, 2008

In International Extemp, Topic Brief

Background

With the seizure two weeks ago of the MV Faina, a Ukrainian freighter, by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the world and its press have suddenly rediscovered the problems that exist in Somalia.  Piracy off of Somalia’s waters is hardly a new phenomenon and is increasing on a yearly basis, with the international community too divided or apathetic to achieve a joint solution to the problem.  What makes the seizure of the MV Faina important was that according to The Economist on October 4, 2008, the Faina had been equipped with anti-aircraft guns, grenade launchers, light weaponry, and 33 T-72 Russian tanks.  Analysts fear that the pirates may have been able to ship much of the lighter weaponry to their allies in Somalia, although the chances of them being able to use the bigger weapons on board are slim.  The seizure also has geopolitical implications in Africa, as the tanks on board were supposedly bound for southern Sudan, which is watching the clock and waiting for an opportunity to declare independence from Muslim-dominated northern Sudan in 2011.

Over the last two decades, Somali has had a very turbulent history, racked by civil wars and clan violence.  Experienced extempers might note that they have had to focus on Somali before, when Ethiopia invaded the country to crush Islamic rebels in 2006.  Today, extempers will need to focus on Somalia because the worsening political situation in the country has ramifications for the east Africa region as well as for the war on terrorism in the United States.  Furthermore, the topic of Somali piracy is sure to emerge in question sets over the next month due to the fact that the world is trying to clamp down on surging pirate attacks, which threaten commerce in the Gulf of Aden, which has ten percent of the world’s shipping.

This brief will seek to provide extempers with some historical background about Somalia as well as briefly discuss several of the problems the country faces in the near future.

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Extemp Questions for the Week of October 14th-20th, 2008

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On October 14, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Is the bailout package working?

2. Should Ethiopia withdraw from Somalia?

3. Will a new Ukranian election increase Yushenko’s power?

4. Should Khatami challenge Ahmadinejad?

5. How would an Obama administration change U.S. policy towards Israel?

6. Should the U.S. and China cooperate on climate change policy?

7. Is McCain finished?

8. Will California’s budget have to be renegotiated?

9. In these economic times, can America weather a tax increase?

10. How pertitent are ACORN’s activities to this year’s presidential election?

Extemp Questions for the Week of October 7th-13th, 2008

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On October 7, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. How can the world stop the financial crisis?

2. Is the war in Afghanistan lost?

3. Will the Ayers attacks weigh down Obama?

4. Which party has the most to lose from the financial crisis?

5. How would Jacob Zuma reshape South African politics?

6. Are the culture wars dangerous for the U.S. political system?

7. Will federal money save the U.S. auto industry?

8. Should the West embrace Belarus?

9. Why is the EU in disarray over its climate change policy?

10. How can the music industry best combat piracy?

Topic Brief: South African Politics (2008)

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On October 7, 2008

In International Extemp, Topic Brief

Background

Over the last several weeks, international extempers have most likely read about the recent political developments in South Africa, arguably the strongest power on the African continent.  For those extempers that have not had a chance to catch up on these developments, Thabo Mbeki is no longer president of the country.  After a prolonged political struggle between Jacob Zuma, who was Mr. Mbeki’s deputy president (a position most akin to vice-president in the United States) and who deposed Mr. Mbeki as leader of the African National Congress (ANC) in December, it appears that Mr. Zuma has won.  This victory came within the span of a month when Mr. Zuma was first acquitted of fraud and corruption charges based on a judicial technicality.  The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the body of the South African judiciary who initiates criminal cases for the government, was said in the dismissal of the charges to have been influenced in its prosecution by Mr. Mbeki and his supporters.  This finding by the judge overseeing Mr. Zuma’s case gave weight to charges, long echoed by Mr. Zuma’s supporters that Mr. Mbeki has been an overzealous president who has been intolerant of political opposition and that Mr. Mbeki has been willing to use the instruments of the state to clamp down on this dissent.  On September 20th, the ANC decided that Mr. Mbeki should resign his post in order to end the political struggle that has gripped the country for three years.

Having set the background, this brief will give an overview of the structure and history of South Africa’s political system, the current state of the government, and what challenges that government faces in the future.

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